International Journal of Electrical, Electronics and Data Communication, ISSN: 2320-2084 Volume-2, Issue-1, Jan.

-2014

HYBRID RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM USING CUK-SEPIC

CONVERTER
1
B.DHIVYA, 2S.DHAMODHARAN
1
PG Scholar (PED) 2PG Scholar (PED)
Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore
Email: dhivyabalu1991@gmail.com, dharan.tech@gmail.com

Abstract— Environmentally friendly solutions are becoming more prominent than ever as a result of concern regarding the
state of our deteriorating planet. This paper presents a new system configuration of the front-end rectifier stage for a hybrid
wind/photovoltaic energy system. This configuration allows the two sources to supply the load separately or simultaneously
depending on the availability of the energy sources. The inherent nature of this Cuk-SEPIC fused converter, additional input
filters are not necessary to filter out high frequency harmonics. Harmonic content is detrimental for the generator lifespan,
heating issues, and efficiency. The fused multi input rectifier stage also allows Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) to be
used to extract maximum power from the wind and sun when it is available. An adaptive MPPT algorithm will be used for the
wind system and a standard perturb and observe method will be used for the PV system.

Keywords— Fusion of the Cuk and SEPIC converters. Hybrid wind/PV system

I. INTRODUCTION energy systems. The proposed design is a fusion of the

With increasing concern of global warming and the
depletion of fossil fuel reserves, many are looking at
sustainable energy solutions to preserve the earth for
the future generations. Other than hydro power, wind
and photovoltaic energy holds the most potential to
meet our energy demands. Alone, wind energy is
capable of supplying large amounts of power but its
presence is highly unpredictable as it can be here one
moment and gone in another. Similarly, solar energy is
present throughout the day but the solar irradiation
levels vary due to sun intensity and unpredictable
shadows cast by clouds, birds, trees, etc.
By combining these two intermittent sources
and by incorporating maximum power point tracking
(MPPT) algorithms, the system’s power transfer
efficiency and reliability can be improved
significantly.
When a source is unavailable or insufficient
in meeting the load demands, the other energy source
can compensate for the difference. Most of the
systems in literature use a separate DC/DC boost
converter connected in parallel in the rectifier stage as
shown in Figure 1 to perform the MPPT control for
each of the renewable energy power sources [1]-[4]. A
simpler multi input structure has been suggested by [5]
that combine the sources from the DC-end while still
achieving MPPT for each renewable source. The
structure proposed by [5] is a fusion of the buck and
buck-boost converter. The systems in literature require
passive input filters to remove the high frequency
current harmonics injected into wind turbine
generators [6]. The harmonic content in the generator
current decreases its lifespan and increases the power
loss due to heating [6].
In this paper, an alternative multi-input
rectifier structure is proposed for hybrid wind/solar
Cuk and SEPIC converters.
Fig.1. Hybrid system with multi-connected boost converter
II. PROPOSED MULTI-INPUT RECTIFIER
STAGE
A system diagram of the proposed rectifier
stage of a hybrid energy system is shown in Figure 2,
where one of the inputs is connected to the output of
the PV array and the other input connected to the
output of a generator. This configuration allows each
converter to operate normally individually in the event
that one source is unavailable.
Figure 3 illustrates the case when only the
wind source is available. In this case, D1 turns off and
D2 turns on; the proposed circuit becomes a SEPIC
converter and the input to output voltage relationship
is given by (1). On the other hand, if only the PV
source is available, then D2 turns off and D1 will
always be on and the circuit becomes a Cuk converter
as shown in Figure 4. The input to output voltage
relationship is given by (2). In both cases, both
converters have step-up/down capability, which
provide more design flexibility in the system if duty
ratio control is utilized to perform MPPT control.

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Vdc d2 and SEPIC converter. This further implies that Vdc

 (1) can be controlled by d1 and d2 individually or
Vw 1  d 2 simultaneously.

Vdc d (v c1  vc 2 )d1Ts  (v c 2 )(d 2  d 1 )Ts

 1 (2) (3)
V pv 1  d1  (1  d 2 )(v dc )Ts  0
d d
If the turn on duration of M1 is longer than M2, then Vdc  ( 1 )v c1  ( 2 )v c 2 (4)
the switching states will be state I, II, IV. Similarly, 1 d2 1 d2
the switching states will be state I, III, IV if the switch d d
conduction periods are vice versa. Vdc  ( 1 )v PV  ( 2 )v w (5)
1  d1 1 d2

. Both the Cuk and SEPIC MOSFET current

Fig.2 Proposed rectifier stage for a Hybrid wind/PV system
consists of both the input current and the capacitors
(C1 or C2) current. The peak current stress of M1 and
M2 are given by (8) and (10) respectively. Leq1 and
Leq2, given by (9) and (11), represent the equivalent
inductance of Cuk and SEPIC converter respectively
The PV output current, which is also equal to
the average input current of the Cuk converter is given
in (12). It can be observed that the average inductor
current is a function of its respective duty cycle (d1).
Therefore by adjusting the respective duty cycles for
each energy source, maximum power point tracking
can be achieved.

d1
v ds1  V pv (1  ) (6)
1  d1
d2
v ds 2  Vw (1  ) (7)
1 d2
Fig.3 Only wind source is operational (SEPIC) VPv d1Ts
ids1, pk  I i , pv  I dc,avg  (8)
2 Leq1
L1L2
Leq1  (9)
L1  L2
Vw d 2Ts
ids 2, pk  I i ,w  I dc ,avg  (10)
2 Leq 2
L3 L2
Leq 2  (11)
L3  L2
p d1
I i ,PV  0 (12)
Fig.4 Only PV source is operation (Cuk) Vdc 1  d1
III. ANALYSIS OF PROPOSED CIRCUIT IV. MPPT CONTROL OF PROPOSED
CIRCUIT
The expression that relates the average output
DC voltage (Vdc) to the capacitor voltages (vc1 and A common inherent drawback of wind and
vc2) is then obtained as shown in (4), where vc1 and PV systems is the intermittent nature of their energy
vc2 can then be obtained by applying volt-balance to sources. Wind energy is capable of supplying large
L1 and L3 [9]. The final expression that relates the amounts of power but its presence is highly
average output voltage and the two input sources (VW unpredictable as it can be here one moment and gone
and VPV) is then given by (5). It is observed that Vdc is in another. Solar energy is present throughout the day,
simply the sum of the two output voltages of the Cuk but the solar irradiation levels vary due to sun intensity

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International Journal of Electrical, Electronics and Data Communication, ISSN: 2320-2084 Volume-2, Issue-1, Jan.-2014

and unpredictable shadows cast by clouds, birds, trees, parallel [5]. A PV cell is a diode of a large-area
etc. These drawbacks tend to make these renewable forward bias with a photo voltage and the equivalent
systems inefficient. However, by incorporating circuit is shown by Figure8 [11]. The current-voltage
maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms, characteristic of a solar cell is derived in [12] and [13]
the systems’ power transfer efficiency can be as follows:
improved significantly.
To describe a wind turbine’s power I  I ph  I D (15)
characteristic, equation (13) describes the mechanical
power that is generated by the wind. q (V  Rs I ) V  Rs I
3
I  I ph  I 0 [exp( )  1] 
pm  0.5ACp ( ,  )v w (13) Ak BT Rsh
The power coefficient (Cp) is a nonlinear function that (16)
represents the efficiency of the wind turbine to convert
wind energy into mechanical energy. It is dependent
on two variables, the tip speed ratio (TSR) and the
pitch angle.
Rb
 (14)
vw
Figure 6 and 7 are illustrations of a power coefficient
curve and power curve for a typical fixed pitch (β =0)
horizontal axis wind turbine. It can be seen from figure Fig.8 PV cell equivalent circuit
6 and 7 that the power curves for each wind speed has
a shape similar to that of the power coefficient curve. Typically, the shunt resistance (Rsh) is very
Because the TSR is a ratio between the turbine large and the series resistance (Rs) is very small [5].
rotational speed and the wind speed, it follows that Therefore, it is common to neglect these resistances in
each wind speed would have a different corresponding order to simplify the solar cell model.
optimal rotational speed that gives the optimal TSR.
For each turbine there is an optimal TSR value that
qV
I  I ph  I 0 (exp( )  1) (17)
corresponds to a maximum value of the power kT
coefficient (Cp,max) and therefore the maximum
power. Therefore by controlling rotational speed, (by
means of adjusting the electrical loading of the turbine
generator) maximum power can be obtained for
different wind speeds.

Fig.9 PV cell voltage-current characteristic

The typical output power characteristics of a

Fig.6 Power Coefficient Curve for a typical wind turbine
PV array under various degrees of irradiation is shown
in figure 10. It can be observed in Figure 10 that there
is a particular optimal voltage for each irradiation level
that corresponds to maximum output power.

Fig.7 Power Curves for a typical wind turbine

A solar cell is comprised of a P-N junction

semiconductor that produces currents via the
photovoltaic effect. PV arrays are constructed by
placing numerous solar cells connected in series and in Fig.10 PV cell power characteristics

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International Journal of Electrical, Electronics and Data Communication, ISSN: 2320-2084
Due to the similarities of the shape of the
wind and PV array power curves, a similar maximum
power point tracking scheme known as the hill climb
search (HCS) strategy is often applied to these energy
sources to extract maximum power. The HCS strategy
perturbs the operating point of the system and
observes the output. If the direction of the perturbation
(e.g an increase or decrease in the output voltage of a
PV array) results in a positive change in the output
power, then the control algorithm will continue in the
direction of the previous perturbation. Conversely, if a
negative change in the output power is observed, then
the control algorithm will reverse the direction of the
pervious perturbation step. In the case that the change
in power is close to zero (within a specified range)
then the algorithm will invoke no changes to the
system operating point since it corresponds to the
maximum power point (the peak of the power curves).
V. SIMULATION RESULTS
In this section, simulation results from PSIM
8.0.7 is given to verify that the proposed multi-input
rectifier stage can support individual as well as
simultaneous operation. Figure 11 illustrates the
simultaneous operation (Cuk SEPIC fusion mode) of
the two sources where M2 has a longer conduction
cycle

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Volume-2, Issue-1, Jan.-2014
Fig.11 Simultaneous operation with both wind and PV source
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